The Scientific Large-scale Infrastructure for Computing/Communication Experimental Studies (SLICES) is a distributed flexible Digital Infrastructure designed to support large-scale, experimental research focused on networking protocols, radio technologies, services, data collection, parallel and distributed computing and in particular cloud and edge-based computing architectures and services. SLICES will make a fundamental contribution to research and innovation in Digital Sciences and Infrastructures, future Internet technologies, future smart networks and services. This encompasses the full range of network, computing, and storage functions required for ‘ondemand’ services across many verticals, and addresses new complex research challenges, supporting disruptive science in IoT, networks and distributed systems.

Entered in the ESFRI Roadmap in 2021, SLICES is the outcome of previous experience in the design, deployment, and operation of several test platforms, such as PlanetLab Europe or the FIRE test-beds, since 2005. SLICES is built on EU-funded projects: SLICES-DS to provide a complete design study, a Europe-wide test-platform designed to support large-scale, experimental research on Digital Infrastructures; and SLICES-SC to foster the community of researchers around the RI ecosystem, create and strengthen necessary links with relevant industrial stakeholders for the exploitation of the RI, advance existing methods for research reproducibility and experiment repeatability. Currently, SLICES consortium gathers partners from 15 European countries, all of them having committed to contribute resources and 11 providing political support.